A senior Hamas official has said the group will not disarm and may even grow after the war in Gaza, warning other countries against cooperating with Israel in the enclave.
“Whoever comes to fill Israel’s place (in Gaza) will be treated like Israel,” Osama Hamdan, a Hamas spokesperson and political bureau member, said on Saturday during a panel discussion at the Al Jazeera Forum in the Qatari capital Doha.
“Whoever wants to work as an agent for Israel will bear the consequences of being Israel’s agent,” he told the forum.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reacting to speculation about the plan for Gaza, on Monday reiterated his position that “on the day after the war in Gaza, there will be no Hamas and no Palestinian Authority,” adding that he was “committed to President (Donald) Trump’s plan to create a different Gaza.”
The warning comes as Arab countries scramble to prepare a postwar proposal for Gaza as an alternative to US President Trump’s plan to “take over” the strip, depopulate it and turn it into a Middle Eastern “riviera.” The United Arab Emirates has said that it is willing to consider a role in postwar Gaza at the invitation of a reformed Palestinian Authority.
Hamdan also said the idea of Hamas disarming is not up for discussion. The group “was not erased” by the war, he said, adding that it will regroup and continue “and I am telling you, we have an opportunity to expand.”
While many Hamas fighters have been killed by Israel in Gaza, a peer-reviewed study by researchers from a leading health research university found that 59 percent of the enclave’s population who died due to violence between October 7, 2023 and June 30, 2024 were women, children, and the elderly.
Hamdan’s statement appeared to contradict a claim by another Hamas spokesperson, Hazem Qassem, that the group is not “clinging to power” and does not have to be part of arrangements “in the next phase.”
“Hamas has shown a lot of flexibility on this matter. And we say clearly that it is not necessary for Hamas to be part of the political or administrative arrangements in the next phase, particularly with regards to the Gaza Strip if that is in the interest of our Palestinian people,” Qassem told Al Arabiya news channel on Sunday. “Hamas is not clinging to power” and it prioritizes relief and reconstruction for Gazans, he added.
‘Resumption of total war’
Gershon Baskin, a former Israeli hostage negotiator who used to speak to Hamas through backchannels, described Hamdan’s defiant statement as “a significant development” that has worrying implications.
“It’s official – Hamas wants war and pre-emptively rebukes Egypt and Arab proposals for Gaza,” Baskin said on X.
“This is very bad and it’s the fault of Netanyahu and the Americans mainly for not working in creating an alternative legitimate Palestinian government for Gaza in a post Hamas scenario,” Baskin said on X, adding that Hamdan’s speech “tells you everything you need to know about the terror group and why the resumption of total war in Gaza is merely a matter of time.”
Muhammad Shehada, a visiting fellow with European Council on Foreign Relations’ Middle East and North Africa Programme, said Hamas sees any discussion about dissolving the group as “a red line,” given that it is keen not to allow demilitarization to become a pre-requisite to a peace process.
For Hamas, maintaining an armed presence in Gaza is meant “to act as a deterrent to Israel staying in Gaza permanently or doing what it does in the West Bank,” Shehada said. “It is not a position toward war.”
Israel occupies the West Bank but allows the Palestinian Authority nominal self-rule as part of a peace process in the 1990s that saw Palestinian factions end armed conflict with Israel with the promise of a future Palestinian state that remains unfulfilled. Netanyahu now rejects prospects of Palestinian independence.
In April, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas’ political bureau, told CNN the group’s military wing would give up armed resistance against Israel and integrate into a national army if an independent Palestinian state was established.
Hamdan added that the region should retain the ability to “to slap Israel whenever it wants… as we proved on October 7,” when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israel in 2023, killing 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages.
The Hamas official’s comments come as Egyptian state-linked media reported that Cairo is working on a post-war Gaza framework that potentially excludes Hamas. Al Qahera News reported Saturday that Egypt is exerting intense efforts to form a temporary committee that oversees the rebuilding of Gaza. Citing an Egyptian source, the news outlet said that Hamas has confirmed it will not take part in Gaza’s governance after the war.
Egypt is a key mediator in the ceasefire talks, along with Qatar and the United States. Cairo helped mediate the current truce, which saw a halt to Israeli bombing and the release of hostages kidnapped by Hamas. It also saw the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israel.
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi contributed reporting.
